Portland's Bike Rental Program

The City of Portland unveiled more details Wednesday about its new bike rental proposal.

About 600 bikes will be rented for about $2.50 per half-hour. That’s cheaper than most of the 65 similar programs around the nation.

But the city hopes to make up the difference with annual memberships. Those will likely cost $10 to $15 a month.

Commissioner Nick Fish expects the program to do well.

“The big deciding point for me is family trips to other cities where this has been a huge success," he said.

One of the problems with bike rental programs is that bikes usually have to be returned to a kiosk. But Portland’s system uses locks and GPS on the bikes, so they can be left and picked up at any rack.

Portland plans to spend more than $2 million in federal grants on the new program, which is scheduled to run for at least five years. The city has a chance to review its contract after three years.

Commissioners will vote on the idea next week. If they go ahead, the program should be up and running by next summer.

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Portland's bike renting program is expected to cost about $2.50 for half an hour, or $10 to $15 for an annual membership.

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